Earth’s Magnetic Field Has A Crack

A telescope known as the GRAPES-3 muon recorded a burst of cosmic rays. These rays were about 20 GeV. This occurred on June 22nd of 2015.

The burst lasted 2 hours and happened due to a solar corona. It was moving at about 2.5 million kph when it hit our planet. The hit caused a geomagnetic storm that was responsible for an impressive display of the aurora borealis. It also triggered blackouts in radio signals.

Running simulations have indicated that the planets magnetic shield cracked temporarily during that event. This was because of magnetic re-connection. This allowed for low energy cosmic ray particles to enter the atmosphere.

The Cosmic Ray Laboratory spent many weeks and crafted many simulations on the event and have finally put it together piece by piece as to better understand how this event took place and why.

Without the GRAPE-3 muon the burst might not have been detected at all. Thanks to this telescope and the ability for the simulations; should any other cosmic bursts happen we will have the ability to know about them, recreate the event, and study it. This allows us greater insight to the workings of our universe.